Gunshot victim's condition improves

Denis J. O'Malley

Updated 11:08 pm, Friday, March 28, 2014

DANBURY -- As a gunshot victim's medical condition was upgraded on Friday, the man accused of shooting him was arraigned in state Superior Court.

Dressed in a blue sweatshirt and black pants, Eliseo Soto, 33, appeared calm as he appeared before Judge Joseph Doherty on Friday afternoon for his arraignment on charges including attempted murder, first-degree assault and criminal use of a firearm.

Court records said Soto shot 24-year-old Jonathan Soto (no relation) outside a home on Rose Street at about 5:42 p.m. Thursday. The victim was shot once in the upper right arm by a .45 caliber handgun, with the bullet traveling into his back and lodging in his spine. His condition was upgraded from critical to stable at Danbury Hospital on Friday, police said.

After he was shot, the victim made his way to his uncle's apartment in the Beaver Street housing complex, where he collapsed on the front stoop, according to police.

Eliseo Soto and two other men who were with him fled in a green Chevrolet Trailblazer, police said, but Eliseo Soto was taken into custody a few hours later as he left his Locust Avenue apartment carrying a bundle of clothing.

Witnesses to the shooting told Hearst Connecticut Media the incident followed a fight at a basketball court on Beaver Street.

According to court documents, Eliseo Soto told police that he had a fight with the victim and then returned to his house to get his gun. After retrieving his gun, he returned to the Beaver Street, shot the victim once and fled, Soto told police, according to court documents.

He told police he was confessing to the shooting because he knew it was wrong, the court documents said.

Danbury Police Lt. Matt McNally said the two men had been fighting for some time over visitation issues involving a baby.

Eliseo Soto told police that he is the uncle of the infant's mother and the victim is the child's father.

Soto said he threw the gun out of the window while driving toward New Milford shortly after the shooting, court documents said. Police so far have been unable to find the gun.

Soto, who moved to the area from New York eight months ago, has not had any previous convictions, his public defender, April Kramer, said in court Friday.

Soto was held in lieu of $250,000 bond and is expected to again appear in court on April 21.